we talk with the chief economist of to mesirow financial, diane swonk. >> tom: still ahead, as the housing market finds stable ground, other companies are piggy-backing on the home recovery. apple officially unveiled it's newest ipad today, the mini, and it's here just in time for the holidays. the device takes direct aim at other small tablets from amazon and google already on the market. as ruben ramirez reports, the ipad mini may have been what everyone was looking for, but the announcement of a next generation ipad is what caught fans and investors by surprise. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: with a simple tune, apple launched ipad's new sibling, the ipad mini. at nearly eight inches, with a ten-hour battery life, it sets apple up to go head-to-head with the likes of google's nexus seven, the kindle fire hd, and the galaxy note, which goes on sale tomorrow. >> the tablet market is very price sensitive, and anytime you cut the price, you open up a whole new audience of users by releasing the mini and having that $329 price point, that's going to give them a lot more penetration into the market. >>